Canterbury ghost hunter prepares for busiest night of the year
A spooky ghost of a woman in a dress, back to camera, framed by the archway of an old building. With a grunge, vintage, blurred edit.
With Halloween approaching, ghost hunters prepare for their busiest weekend of the year. Our reporter Lauren Croud, spoke to Canterbury ghost hunter, John Hippisley about the ghosts that haunt Canterbury…
Who would have thought a cosy tearoom would be ghost hunter and author, John Hippisley’s favourite spot to feel the presence of ghosts? The local ghost hunter runs weekly tours of Canterbury, starting at Alberry’s bar, proceeding to the Tiny Tim’s tearoom a few doors down; in this tearoom Mr Hippisley claims he has found the bodies of a mother and children.
He takes people to the spookiest locations of the city and shares with them the stories of the ghosts found in each of the locations.
The ghost tours are currently gearing up for the Halloween weekend, their busiest night of the year. Mr Hippisley encourages people to join him on his tour of the ghosts of Canterbury and potentially catch a glimpse of what is lurking around the cobbled streets.
Mr Hippisley says his spookiest sighting is of a girl who haunts Stains Place.
Ghost hunter, John Hippisley said: “Her first saw her in 1978 and I saw her pretty much every year till 1998 and she disappeared when they dug up one of the footstones of the entrance way to this old place and when they did so they found the remains of a little girl.”
Wondering how you would react to seeing a ghost? Mr Hippisley has been running these tours for 31 years and says many people on his tours have experienced the presence of ghosts.
Mr Hippisley said: “It tends to be a sort of a sharp jolt of a worry and then the realisation that they are not alone as other people see it too. But someones it’s just a one off as in only one person sees the ghost, no one else does.
He added: “It’s all about perception, ghosts don’t tend to appear to everyone, they appear to everybody who have a shared experience.”
Although Mr Hippisley does not guarantee seeing ghosts at Halloween he says, theoretically the veil is thinner at this time of the year. His tours run on Friday and Saturday nights at 8pm, do you dare to join him…?
